Pivoted roll can straightener



March 10, 1959 R. F. FOX 2,876,821

PIVOTED ROLL CAN STRAIGHTENER Filed April 1, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Reed F. Fox

INVENTOR. /02

R. F. FOX

PIVOTED ROLL CAN STRAIGHTENER v March 10, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed April 1, 1954 9 w I. ev R Wavy PIVOTED ROLL CAN STRAIGHTENER Reed F. Fox, Bryan, Ohio, assignor to Fox Bros. Mfg Bryan, Ohio, a partnership Application April 1, 1954, Serial No. 420,304 1 Claim. (Cl. 153-32) The present invention relates to a device for straightening damaged cans and more particularly relates to a device for straightening damaged flanged ends of empty cans.

Frequently, during the shipment of cans from their source of supply to the canning plants and during their storage in such plants prior to filling and sealing thereof, the open, flanged ends of the cans become dented, nicked or otherwise damaged resulting in ineffective seals when the lids are applied to the cans causing spoilage or spillage of the can contents. The primary object of the present invention is the provision of an economical machine for restoring damaged flanged ends of cans to their intended curvature prior to filling and sealing the same to eliminate faulty seals and to reclaim cans which, because of the time, expense and difliculty involved in manual straightening would otherwise be thrown away.

A highly important object of the invention is in the provision of a machine for straightening can flanges which will work on a wide range of can sizes without modification or change of parts.

It is an object of the invention to provide a novel spaced roll arrangement adjustably clamping the wall of a can therebetween and mechanically revolving at least one of the rolls to move the can throughtherolls to iron out the dents of the cans wall and end flange.

It is still another object of the invention to mount the rolls in novel angular relation to one another so that one of the rolls may be foot treadle operated toward the other roll to draw the rolls toward one another.

These together with another objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

Figure l is a side elevational view ening machine;

Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the machine with the panel removed from one side of the frame to disclose the interior thereof;

Figure 3 is a cross sectional view of the machine taken substantially along the plane of section line 3-3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a cross sectional view taken substantially along the plane of section line 44 of Figure 2 showing a detail of the motor mounting;

Figure 5 is an enlarged perspective view of the top portion of the machine with the roll guard panel removed;

Figure 6 is an enlarged detail view of the rolls with a can in position for straightening;

Figure 7 is a perspective view of the movable roll, mounting structure and treadle operating lever;

Figure 8 is a front view of the bracket swingably mounting the movable roll shaft on the machine frame;

of the can straight- Un teds s Pat 0 2,876,821' Patented Mar. 10, 1359 Figure 9 is a view of the movable roll shaft with the mounting bracket and pillow blocks being in cross section to show the self aligning bearings; and,

Figure 10 is a perspective view of the treadle lever and link assembly per se.

In the drawings, the can straightening machine, des ignated in its entirety by the numeral 10, is comprised of a skeleton frame 12 covered with suitable panels 14 around the front, sides, a portion of the top and back.

The frame 12 comprises front legs top rails 20, intermediate side rails 22, bottom side rails 24 and suitable cross braces 26. As will be noted particularly in Figure 2, top rails 20 include horizontal forward portions 28 and downwardly inclined or rearwardly sloping portions 30 joining the tops of the rear legs 18.

Mounted on the horizontal portions 28 of the top rails 20 and projecting forwardly from the frame 12 is a flat table or top 32. Secured to one side edge of the table 32 is an anvil 34 for smoothing large dents from cans to be straightened prior to straightening the cans on the machine.

To the rear and centrally of the side edges thereof, the table 32 is provided with an opening 36. Cylindrical vertically disposed roll 38 is disposed within opening 36 and projects above the surface of table 32. The roll 38 is provided with an enlarged annular rim 40 at the base thereof for engaging the flange of a can to be straight ened.

Roll 38 is removably, of shaft 42 and consti machine. t

Shaft 42 extends downwardly within the fore part of the frame 12 and is suitably journaled therein by means of pillow blocks 44 mounted on front cross braces 26 of the frame. The lower end of shaft 42 terminates within the frame just below the intermediate side rails 22 and has a bevel gear 46 mounted thereon in mesh with a pinion gear 48 mounted on the front end of lay shaft 50 which extends horizontally rearward therefrom. Suit able pillow blocks 52 suspended from cross braces 26 spaced longitudinally along side rails 22 rotatably journal lay shaft 50 within the frame.

To drive the stationary roll shaft 42 through lay shaft 50, a suitable motor 54 is mounted by means of hinge bracket 56 (Figure 4) on one of the bottom side rails 24. Small pulley 58 is secured on motor drive shaft 60 directly beneath large pulley 62 secured on the rear end of lay shaft 50. Endless belt 64 is entrained over pulleys 58 and 62. Thus the stationary roll shaft 42 and roll 38 are driven from the motor 54 through the medium of lay shaft 50 at greatly reduced speed from that of the motor shaft 60. v A movable roll 66 rotatable on an axis inclined to roll 38 is carried at the 66 projecting above the top of the frame 12 to the rear and normally spaced to one side of the stationary roll 38, the rolls having complementary generally parallel work engaging surfaces.

Shaft 68 is downwardly, rearwardly inclined from its front to its rear end and is suspended at its rear end in a self-aligning bearing 70 .mounted in pillow block 72, which pillow block is suspended from a cross brace (not shown) extending between the downwardly inclined portions 30 of the top rails 20.

A diagonal brace 74 extends between one of the front legs 16 and the horizontal portion 28 of its connected top rail 20. On this brace 74 is mounted a pillow block 76, shown most clearly in Figure 7. One leg 78 of a U- shaped bracket 80 is swingably secured to the block 76 by means of a pivot bolt 82 disposed on an axis parallel to that of movable roller shaft 68 to one side of this non-rotatably carried at the top utes the stationary roll for the 16, rear legs 18, 1

upper end of roll shaft 68, roll Figure 7 is inverted and pillow The bracket 80, as will be noted particularly in block 84 mounted on the web 86 of the bracket carries self-aligned bearing 88 journalling the upper end of the shaft 68. Set screw equipped collars 89 and 91 are secured to shaft 68 between bearings 70 and 88. They contact inner faces of these hearings to hold shaft 68 and the shaft carried rollers 66 in place between the bearings.

To the extremity of the other leg 90 of bracket 80 is attached the forward end of link arm 92. The rearward end of link arm 92 is attached to a suitable bracket on one of the intermediate side rails 22.

Intermediate its ends, link arm 92 is provided with lug 94 through which the threaded upper end of a link rod 96 extends. Adjusting nuts 98 on opposite sides of lug'94 control the length of the rod 96 projecting above the log 94.

Link rod 96 is pivotally attached at its lower end to an intermediate portion of a treadle lever 100, the rear end of which is pivoted to the back of frame 12 adjacent the lower end thereof. The lever 100 projects forwardly of the front of the frame 12 and is provided with a foot treadle 102. Resilient means in the form of an elongated vertical coil spring 104 is connected at its upper and lower ends respectively to frame 12 and lever 100 forwardly of link rod 96 continually urging treadle lever 100 upwardly. The tension on this spring is of course controlled by adjustment of nuts 93attaching link rod 96 to the lug 94.

The operation of the machine -is extremely simple. The motor 54 is turned on and a can 106 is placed over the stationary roll 38 in the position shown in Figure 1. Treadlc 102 is pressed, swinging bracket 80 downwardly about pivot pin 82 and thereby moving roll 66 sideways and outwardly toward stationary roll 38, this movement retainingthe work engaging roll surfaces in generally parallel relation. As roll 66 approaches roll 38, the wall of can 106 is clampingly pressed between the rolls. Noting Figure 6 it will be seen that roll 66 is provided with an undercut surface 108 parallel to the shoulder of annular flange 40 or roll 38 to smooth the can flange therebetween. When the can wall is so clamped the can will revolve about roll 38 thus imparting an opposite rotational movement to movable roll 66 and smoothing the damaged can end. Of course, before applying the can to the rollers it may be first worked on the anvil 34.

By virtue of the movement between the rolls, and the manner in which the cans are revolved, the machine will work effectively on cans of varying diameters and wall thicknesses without any change or modification. How ever, when working with extremely small or exceptionally large can size ranges it is only necessary to change the rolls to perform satisfactory straightening operations.

Although only vertical shaft 42 is described as being driven, it is obvious that both shafts 42 and 68 could be driven or that shaft 68 could be driven to the exclusion of shaft 42 if desired.

shaft.

From the foregoing, the construction and operation of the device will be readily understood and further explanation is believed to be unnecessary. However, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the appended claim.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

A can straightening apparatus comprising a frame, a stationary roll and a movable roll carried by said frame, said movable roll disposed laterally adjacent to said stationary roll and at an angle thereto, said rolls having work engaging surfaces that are generally parallel when in contact with a can, means on said frame mounting said movable roll for movement in a path toward and away from the side of said stationary roll whereby the space above the stationary roll is left vacant to accommodate a can and the work engaging surface of the rolls are maintained in approximately parallel relation to one another, said movable roll mounting means including a shaft inclined relative to the axis of said stationary roll, a fixed pivot attaching said shaft to said frame at one end of said shaft and said shaft carrying said movable roll adjacent to the opposite end thereof, means swingably carrying an intermediate portion of said shaft on said frame, said shaft'being axially slidable with respect to said swiugable carrying means, said swingable carrying means being pivoted about a point which is offset from the plane defined by the axes of the two roll carrying shafts, said swingable carrying means comprising a bracket pivotally mounted on said frame, self aligning bearings journaling said shaft on said bracket and said fixed pivot, operating means attached to said swingably attaching means for swinging the same in a direction moving said movable roll towards said stationary roll, and return means attached to said operating means and to said frame for swinging said swingably carrying means in an opposite direction and thereby moving said movable roll away from said stationary roll.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 912,377 Hutchinson Feb. 16, 1909 1,152,437 Rudolphi Sept. 7, 1915 1,836,921 Harrison Dec. 15, 1931 1,906,578 Grotnes May 2, 1933 2,251,810 Smith Aug. 5, 1941 2,466,947 Harbord Apr. 12, 1949 2,534,220 Brikland Dec. 19, 1950 2,601,641 Simpson et al. June 24, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 645,966 France July 9, 1.928

401,041 Great Britain Nov. 9, 1933 699,018 Great Britain Oct. 28, 1953 

